


fix yourself there (like a map pin)

by fictorium



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Cabin Fic, F/F, Hiding, Mutual Pining, On the Run, Secret Crush, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25593184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/pseuds/fictorium
Summary: Cat needs to be off the grid and out of sight, fast. Kara gets her to safety, at the cost of her powers. How will they survive together in rural Vermont?Prompt: inevitable bedsharing prompt!
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant
Comments: 49
Kudos: 360
Collections: SuperCat Christmas in July 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DefinitelyHuman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyHuman/gifts).



> Title from Fionn Regan's 'Dogwood Blossom'

Kara felt her powers flickering just as she started the descent. It was particularly difficult to adjust while carrying an entire human and two large duffel bags, but she managed to exert just enough control to make sure the landing was only rough on her. 

“This is why I wanted to take my jet,” Cat said, the note of complaint no different from every word she had uttered in the last half hour. She stood, entirely unscathed, on the uneven forest ground under a canopy of trees.

“There’s... ow! No runway out here. Besides, jets can be tracked. And their electrical systems would be like a… like a carnival for Livewire. We need to stay off the grid. The __electrical__ grid in particular.”

Kara picked herself up with some difficulty and started dragging the bags towards the small cabin on the other side of the clearing. She could hear running water, some sort of stream nearby, but when she tried her enhanced vision it fizzled out before anything could be scanned. Great. Officially powerless.

“Where are we?” Cat asked, falling into step behind Kara but not offering to help with the bags. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed the lack of powers yet. She’d only just found out about them after all. Maybe. She hadn’t really worked it out again after Bizarro, had she? Either way, she’d taken Kara’s sudden confession in stride.

“You know you mentioned that your Pilates instructor was leaving to start a new business in Vermont?”

“Yes?”

“Well, it didn’t pan out. But he hasn’t sold the cabin yet, and I happen to know he won’t be coming out here for a while. Let’s just say I borrowed the keys.”

“First you confirm you’re Supergirl, now you’re stealing entire cabins? Wait, what do you mean by __cabin__ , exactly? This looks nothing like my place in Wyoming.”

Kara fumbled with the keys and swung the front door open. Wood thudded against wood and the dark shape was illuminated only by moonlight. 

“No. Your ranch in Jackson is, well, a ranch. Oh. No electrics yet,” Kara replied. She shoved the bags across the floor and fumbled around for some kind of flashlight. Instead she found an old-fashioned lantern and a box of matches. Good enough. “There is supposed to be a generator somewhere, but that might have to wait for daylight to set that up.”

She held the light aloft and turned slowly in the limited space. Clean, furnished beautifully, but definitely not the largest property. It barely covered the same square footage as Kara’s apartment. A log fire stood ready against one stone wall, and the kitchen seemed well-equipped. The presence of a fridge supported the generator theory. Cat stood with her hands on her hips, staring at Kara and the cabin in alternating bursts of disbelief. 

“You cannot be serious. There are hotels, beach houses... hell I’m sure I could call in a favor or two and get a nicely secured palace somewhere for a few days.”

“Ms Grant, all of those places are obvious or linked to you in some way. It would take hardly any time for Leslie and Siobhan to find you with their combined powers and mean girl stalker skills. Believe me when I say this is the safest place I could bring you right now. We have round-the-clock security on Carter and his father, but there’s no reason to think at this point that they’ll go as far as tracking them down in Europe.”

“Not when what they both want is me.” Cat finished the thought with a weary sigh. She took the lantern from Kara’s hand, seeming surprised at the lack of resistance in her grip.

“I’ll see if there are more lamps,” Kara said, eager to put some distance between them. Cat might have agreed to be holed up with Supergirl as her personal bodyguard, but the middle of nowhere with her useless assistant might well send Cat over the edge. There were candles on every strategic surface, so she busied herself with lighting plenty before making her way back over to Cat. 

Who was standing in the doorway of the bedroom. The one and only bedroom, to match the one and only bathroom. Oh. Damn. 

“Well, I’ll take the couch. Obviously,” Kara said, barely keeping the panic out of her voice. “And I’m sure we’ll find an effective way to contain Livewire before we even have a chance to get comfortable here.”

Cat folded her arms over her chest, still in her office-smart clothes that seemed totally at odds with their rustic retreat. 

“I’ve roughed it with the best of them, Kara. You can stop looking at the furniture like it might give us rabies. I don’t know where you got the impression that I’m such a snob.”

No. No way. Kara wasn’t letting her get away with that one. It was her turn to fold her arms, her silence pointed.

“Not all the time, anyway,” Cat amended. “Now let’s see what we have to work with here. We can start by cleaning up and making ourselves comfortable. This linen and silk was made for California, not New England. I suppose you don’t think about things like that.”

“Of course, Ms Grant.”

“Kara. Please. We’re in the outtakes of a Northern Exposure episode. You should call me Cat. It’s only fair, now we can both be ourselves in front of each other.”

“Okay. Cat.” Kara shouldered the bags and moved toward the bedroom. Her own things took up barely a third of one of them. Unpacking for Cat would give them time to settle. As she passed Cat in the wide doorway, Kara froze at the gentle touch of Cat’s fingers wrapping around her upper arm. Even through the suit, the heat of it was startling. 

“I do appreciate it. Everything you’re doing for me.”

“It’s no problem,” Kara replied, pushing on to complete her task and mourning the contact from the very second it ended. 

***

Kara stepped outside to take Alex’s call, having changed from her suit into flannel pajamas. Unused to feeling the cold, she grabbed a sweater to combat the late evening chill. 

“Hey.”

“You got there okay? I thought you’d call as soon as you landed. I was watching your tracker.”

“Yeah, but you know how I wasn’t, uh, quite right before I left?” Kara checked over her shoulder for any signs of Cat approaching. With the door closed she had no way of hearing her anyway. “Well, I was right about my __you-know-whats__ being on the fritz.”

“Well shit, Kara. I told you to let me send a tactical unit with you. I can still mobilize some people I trust, but it’ll be morning now before we can get to you.”

“No, I think we’re fine. It might draw attention and right now we’ve effectively melted away in the night. The cabin seems well stocked, and there’s a township nearby I can get to without any special help.”

“At least we put satellite powers in your phone, because otherwise you’d have no signal out there at all,” Alex said. “But maybe you prefer it that way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kara tried to sound snappy, but it came out as more of a whine.

“Locked away in the woods with your crush, and nothing to do but play strip poker…”

“Alex! I haven’t even looked for a deck of cards. There is some Scrabble here though.”

“Strip Scrabble?” Alex heaved out a sigh that traveled all the way down the phone line. “There’s no hope for you, is there?”

“Bye, Alex. I’ll call if I need anything. Let me know the second you have Leslie and Siobhan in custody, okay?”

“Oh sure. Unless you’re busy.” Alex snorted with laughter as Kara hung up on her. Sisters. Why were they like that?

“Everything okay?” Cat asked as Kara eased the cabin door open again. She had opted for silk pajamas in the deepest burgundy, a soft gray robe wrapped over them. With the soft slippers and a headband pulling her hair back off her face, Cat could have been ready for a spa day. 

“It is. Just checking in,” Kara replied. “Did you need anything before bed?”

“I found the Scotch you packed.” Cat gestured to the bottle now open on the end table next to the sofa. “And there’s bottled water, plenty of snacks in the cupboards. I’m sure you’re due for a refuel.”

Kara had never felt less hungry in her life. “I’ll get some water.”

“I put blankets on the couch for you,” Cat said, not making eye contact. “I’m not sure how comfortable it will be though. We both know I’m not selfless enough to volunteer to sleep there instead. And my lower back would never forgive me.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t forget to blow out the last of the candles before you get sleepy.” Cat looked at Kara again, her green eyes glowing like emeralds in the soft flickering light. There was a charge in the air between them that Kara didn’t recognize, and it felt dangerous in a new, exciting way. “Goodnight, then.”

She swept off into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Kara went to help herself to a drink and started blowing out the candles, one by one. By the time she settled on the couch under a thick blanket, she heard Cat open the bathroom door and walk across the bedroom area. The mattress barely creaked as she settled on the bed, and after that Kara didn’t hear much of anything at all. 

Few things exhausted her like operating with human-level abilities, and in just a few long blinks, Kara was sound asleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

She woke at first light, bird song filtering through the window that had been opened ever so slightly. Kara didn’t remember doing that. Maybe Cat had done it in the night? At a loss without her super senses, Kara settled for a quick bathroom break and a tall glass of water. It was just polite to check on Cat while she did, but the only evidence of her was a tangle of blonde curls on the pillow, every other detail obscured by the huge comforter. 

A tiny part of Kara wanted to get closer, to see Cat’s face relaxed at and peace. Then a tiny snore followed by a soft grunt seemed to warn her off. Time to assess their provisions. 

When she’d made this hasty plan, Kara had expected to be able to fly around and retrieve everything they might need. It was her default mindset as Cat’s assistant, and Kara didn’t exactly expect a lot of help on the domestic front. 

She opted for a shower and getting dressed, moving around the cabin as quietly as possible but Cat didn’t stir. Stepping outside, Kara was momentarily stunned by the natural beauty she found herself in. A canopy of trees that extended in every direction made the clearing for the cabin seem like a secret, the breeze and the sunlight through the leaves were the only indication that the outside world still existed. Scents of tree sap and fresh earth mingled under Kara’s nose, but she lacked her usual ability to identify every last strand. 

There was a shed on the far side of the property, home to an industrial-style generator and a comforting array of tools. An ax or two, hammers and saws, some hurricane style lanterns and a first aid kit that could have supplied a modest field hospital. Kai, Cat’s much-missed masseur, definitely didn’t leave much to chance. He also had expensive taste in mountain bikes, which delighted Kara more than she expected. With a cursory check and reinflating the tires, she was whizzing down the bumpy trail towards the nearest settlement. 

“Morning!” The woman in the plain-fronted store called out as soon as Kara entered. It took repressing her every instinct to just nod and half-smile in acknowledgment. The last thing Kara wanted to do was be too memorable. She’d be just another townie tourist passing through, no matter how delicious the produce looked or how friendly the welcome. Luckily the store clerk seemed to take the hint and before long Kara was struggling back to her bike with an overstuffed backpack full of supplies, paid for with the cash she usually kept tucked inside her suit. 

Kara was exhausted by the time she returned to their temporary lodgings, the uphill gradient and the unusual experience of being able to feel the weight of what she carried left her feeling entirely unfit. She tucked the bike back in the shed and dragged the groceries to the front door, only to almost be knocked over by Cat emerging, sleep-mussed and furious.

“The shower isn’t working,” she said, towel slung over her shoulder, still in her pajamas. 

“Oh! The generator!” Kara knew there was another pressing task on the to-do list. “Let me unpack these and I’ll go fire… you know what?” She amended, off Cat’s impatient glare. “Let’s get that power turning first. Food can wait.”

“I could be booked into a Radisson under a false name,” Cat said, whining just a little. 

“This is safer,” Kara replied, trudging over to get things rolling. She checked the level on the generator and saw it had plenty of fuel. Cat was rifling through the backpack of food with some huffy comments that were beyond Kara’s human-level hearing. 

She tugged on the pull cord, waiting for the engine to judder into life. Nothing. Well, it had probably been a while. Kara let the cord retract and then jerked it again, a little harder that time. 

Half a sputter. Then silence. No. No, no, no. 

_Third time lucky_ , Kara muttered to herself. She closed her eyes and pulled hard and sharp on the cord. That time it snapped and came away in her hand. 

“Don’t tell me we’re stuck here without power,” Cat said, approaching with measured steps in her slippers. “I have to draw the line at this, Kara.”

“I’m sure it’s an easy fix, just--”

“Pack our things. I’ll accept not being online, or having a decent restaurant on speed dial, but I can’t live without basic utilities. You might not be my preferred airline, Supergirl, but I’ll fly with you one more time.”

“About that…” Kara summoned the courage to tell Cat the truth. Most of it. Well, just the bit about not being able to fly for the time being. 

It went about as well as she could have expected.

***

“Cat?” Kara called out as her watch clicked around past eleven. They hadn’t spoken in over an hour, and Cat’s pacing on the porch had quieted about twenty minutes ago. Kara opened the cabin door to see that no one was in sight.

Great. 

She checked the shed first, seeing the bike was still there. Kara wasn’t above giving the faulty generator a spiteful little kick on her way past. It was almost nice to be able to lash out occasionally without totaling something. 

Cat could have walked to the road, but Kara found herself drawn to the sound of the stream. She’d already gotten so used to it that she’d been tuning it out, but something in the splashing sounded different as Kara followed the babbling trickle down to where the water widened out into a large, dramatic pond. Complete with its own waterfall.

“Cat?” She called out, not seeing any disturbance on the water’s shiny surface. A moment later, a blonde head emerged from underwater, twenty feet away. Found her. 

“The water’s fine, Kara,” Cat called back. “You might want to consider cleaning up at some point.”

Any plans Kara had to talk about swimsuits or going to fetch one were torpedoed by Cat bobbing gently in the widened stream, making it quite clear that she’d gone from nought to naked in no time at all. 

“I just--”

“Pass me the conditioner then, if you’re just going to stand there. Then I can get out and see if we can’t conjure up some lunch between us.”

Kara grabbed the plastic bottle from the pile of Cat’s things by the bank, and kicking her shoes off, she waded in a few steps to hand off the conditioner as Cat approached. Swimming, thankfully, because even the sight of her bare back had rendered Kara all but speechless. 

“I’ll go start on food,” Kara said, her cheeks aflame and her crush burning deep in her belly, more out of control than it had ever been before. “See you up there.”

***

Cat returned not longer after, smelling of eucalyptus and something floral that Kara didn’t recognize. Gone were the impractical clothes of yesterday and the oversized pajamas, replaced with skin tight black jeans and a sweater that hung off one shoulder. When Kara had packed Cat’s hiking boots she’d expected them to be ignored for the whole trip, but there they were on Cat’s feet as she strode across the wooden floor to hang her towel in the unused bathroom. 

“Since the fridge isn’t happening, I figure we polish off the fresh things first,” Kara said, indicating her elaborate sandwich preparation station. She might not be the planet’s greatest baker, but Kara Danvers was a sandwich connoisseur. 

“I brought up some stream water, from where it was flowing fastest,” Cat replied, nodding to a large bucket by the door. “I can cope without most things but the lack of coffee is getting critical.”

“That’s just over here.” Kara was relieved for an excuse to step away, Cat having moved closer to inspect the sandwich fillings. “You didn’t need to bring the water, but it’s a nice thought.”

“Well I thought one of us should,” Cat replied as she wrestled with a jar of pickles. The lid popped and she helped herself to one before setting it back down. “I notice you haven’t been carting things around with your usual enthusiasm.”

“It’s nothing. It’ll pass.”

“All your powers?”

Kara nodded.

“When were you going to tell me?” Cat eased her way onto the worktop next to Kara’s sandwich station. “I’m not a big fan of finding things out only in dire circumstances, Kara.”

“I know, I’m just used to keeping everything so secret. I’ll get better at it, I promise.”

It was Cat’s turn to nod. “Good enough. I’ll be much less reasonable about these things when we’re not stuck in the middle of nowhere because I’m running for my life. Just in case you thought you were getting off lightly.”

“I have every faith, Ms Grant,” Kara replied, with a wry smile. “Sorry. Cat. Another thing to get used to.”

Cat watched Kara slice the fresh bread, saying nothing. 

***

Kara was well-practiced in pretending to read. She used it as a cover most of the time when overhearing things she shouldn’t, and her ability to read faster than humans meant she had to force herself not to rip through books in seconds most of the time. It made for a convenient cover while watching Cat pace back and forth in the cabin. The rain outside had them confined for a while, and the lack of connectivity had long since begun to bite. 

“Anything could be happening right now,” Cat said, continuing her rant. “Anything, anywhere in the world, and I don’t know about it. Jen could be back with Brad. The Nigerian economy could have collapsed. Culottes could have come back into fashion, and here I am… powerless to prevent it.”

“To be fair--” Kara’s attempt at interruption was steamrolled over. She’d already tried distracting Cat with the healthy stacks of books and magazines, and the board games had been openly scoffed at. Not feeling hungry all the time was a nice change of pace, but Kara found herself snacking out of boredom all the same. She tried to distract Cat with a protein bar, but she showed no interest as she kept pacing. 

“I need the story, Kara. I need the scoop, the skinny. Something to hold my interest and challenge my journalistic brain. We have the rest of the evening ahead of us and I’m close to losing my mind.”

Kara sighed. There was nothing else for it. 

“How about I make us some pasta? It’s been hours since the sandwiches, and you have to eat. Then, I suppose, I mean I guess you won’t even be that interested, but if you really needed a story…”

“...yes?” Cat was stock still by the fireplace, watching Kara with a new fascination.

“I suppose you do deserve my full backstory. Not just a rushed “I’m also Supergirl” and whisking you off here.”

Cat shrugged. “I mean, I guess…”

Kara rolled her eyes with no small amount of fondness. “In the meantime, you can help me chop some vegetables. All hands on deck, Cat.”

“If you ever tell anyone about all the chores I’ve had to do out here--”

“It’s been a day.”

“Still. I can feel my the skin on my hands cracking at just the thought.”

Emboldened, Kara placed her hands on Cat’s shoulders and steered her over to the kitchen area. She touched Cat all the time in small ways - steering, directing, occasionally dragging her off the floor with a hangover - but it felt newly intimate in their strange situation. 

“I’m here,” Cat said, picking up a knife with some sort of purpose. “Now start weaving me a tale, and don’t you dare leave out any good bits.”

“Fine,” Kara replied, measuring out some penne. “So back on Krypton, we knew the planet was in its final weeks. I mean, my parents did. The adults. I was mostly aware that things were bad, but not the extent of it.”

“Go on,” Cat urged. “I really do want to hear all of it. What was Krypton like?”


	3. Chapter 3

“So.” Cat picked up the bottle of Scotch, frowning at how light it already was. Their pasta bowls were long since set aside and washed. “I’m no math genius, but by my calculations, if you hadn’t gone into this Phantom of the Opera--”

“Phantom Zone.”

“Right. That. If you hadn’t been stuck there for all that time--asleep, thank God--then you would have landed on Earth, what? Twenty-four years earlier?”

Kara sighed. She had done the calculations a hundred times over, knew her life in a series of pluses and minuses that no one else ever quite understood. Minus one home planet, minus two parents. Plus one family of strange but kind Earthlings. Plus one rediscovered mother, but still minus one father with kind eyes and patient explanations of how planets orbited the sun. Plus love, minus belonging, divided by the square root of never quite fitting in. If being Kara was an equation, she still had little idea of the solution. 

“Maybe that’s why.” Cat spoke so quietly that anyone other than Kara would have struggled to catch it. 

“Why what?” She had to ask. A reporter’s curiosity. An all-consuming crush that needed every last detail of Cat to burn as brightly as ever. 

“When you fell into my lap, as Supergirl, it felt right. Fated, almost. As much as I believe in that crap, which isn’t much at all. But something always felt a little off. Maybe it was the timing. Maybe I was supposed to make my career on you like Lois did with your cousin. Instead you got here when I was at the top of my game. So all it did was save the Tribune.”

“That’s something.”

“It is. Those jobs, that public service; they’re important. But it makes me wonder if I wasn’t supposed to meet Kara back then too. When I was so much younger. Hell, I’d still have been a teenager. Just like you were.” Cat closed her eyes at the thought.

“I wouldn’t have been Kara Danvers then, though. I would have been somewhere totally different, all alone with a baby cousin to care for.”

Cat filled her glass and set the empty bottle aside. She picked up the poker and tried to force some life into the dwindling fire. “Well, this is how the universe wanted it. It’s not as though we would have been best friends. Or high school sweethearts.”

There was danger in how Cat said it; her words tasted like gunpowder or smoke as Kara drank them in. 

“It sounds like you’re saying--”

“I’m just doing a little math, Kara.”

Kara sat back in her chair, setting down the playing cards she had done nothing more than shuffle a few times. 

“Math isn’t everything,” she replied eventually, summoning up her courage from somewhere around her knees, it felt like. “So there’s nothing about numbers being the way they are now that stops any of those possibilities coming true.”

“What do you mean?” Cat, mistress of the direct staredown, had her gaze fixed resolutely on Kara’s lips. Eye contact wasn’t even being attempted.

“Sweethearts. Dating. Kissing behind the gym if that’s what really matters. I don’t see any math that says those options aren’t open to you, Cat.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re on the right side of thirty.”

Kara couldn’t contain the scoffing sound that drew out of her. “I’m a millennial, remember? This side of thirty has been kind of a trash fire for my generation. I’m looking forward to what comes next.”

“Youth really is wasted on the young.” Cat teased but her smile was soft, lighting up her eyes in that way Kara so rarely got to see. “Shall we put more wood on the fire? It’s getting late.”

“I can’t believe we’ve just talked all evening,” Kara said. “There was a time getting to say four words in a row to you felt like an achievement. It’s colder tonight. Can we leave the fire burning overnight?”

Cat shook her head. “Not safe. Sparks, breezes… and you without those super senses. We’ll just have to wrap up warm. You won’t be used to that, will you?”

“Nope,” Kara admitted. “Even in winter I barely have sheets on the bed. And I don’t know how you sleep in those heavy silk pajamas, but I’m starting to see the appeal now.”

“Silk isn’t heavy. You’re welcome to a pair, if they’ll fit over those endless legs of yours.”

Kara gathered up the cards, putting them back in their box. “Hardly endless. I’ll be fine out here, maybe just grab an extra blanket overnight. We can light the fire again once we’re up.”

“You know it’s silly,” Cat said, standing up and stretching. “The bed through there is huge, and it’s laden with blankets. Sharing body heat is probably more responsible, with you in this vulnerable state. What am I going to do if you freeze to death overnight?”

“I won’t _freeze_.” Kara focused on the hyperbole, otherwise she’d have to acknowledge that Cat Grant just invited her into her bed. “And you’re already going to be sick of me soon, without me invading your space that much.”

“I’ve had four husbands and spent four years before that in dorms. Not to mention raising children, which is the death knell for any concept of privacy. Don’t argue with me, _Keira_. Just accept the more comfortable sleeping arrangement.”

Kara conceded with a full-body sigh. She had the funny feeling there would be nothing comfortable about lying in silent angst next to the woman of her dreams all night.

***

She lingered as long as she could over the pre-bed routine. With only cold water available, Kara meticulously washed up and brushed her teeth as thoroughly as one person could get away with. She cleansed, she toned, she moisturized, but no matter how many tasks she added to the roster, it didn’t remove the fact of Cat lying through there in a comfortable bed, the space beside her empty and waiting. 

Coming out of the bathroom, Kara checked to see if Cat had somehow fallen asleep. Then it would be easier to sneak back to the couch and spare herself all that dangerous proximity. Kara’s head was still reeling with their conversation, the things Cat had implied about them both. 

“Get over here, you hopeless alien.”

Right. Not asleep then. 

“Coming!” Kara’s voice was too high, too nervous. She scurried across the floor and slipped beneath the comforter, insecure about her cupcake-patterned pajamas. Cat propped herself against her pillows, book in hand. 

“You don’t mind if I read for a while? Even with all this fresh air I never fall asleep easily.”

“Whatever you like,” Kara replied. “I can sleep through anything. It’s a gift.”

“One you don’t lose with your powers?”

“Exactly. Goodnight, Cat.”

“Goodnight.”

Kara turned on her side, facing away from Cat and the soft glow of the bedside lamp. The sheets smelled like Cat’s eucalyptus soap, with a twist of something rich and heavy that must be her perfume. Lying as still as possible, Kara forced her breathing to slow and concentrated on her heart rate. Usually that was enough to let her doze, but every time she settled, Cat would turn another page.

Eventually the torture ended. Cat put the book down with a careful thunk on the floor, and the lamp clicked off. With minimal rearranging, she settled down next to Kara. The bed seemed tiny in that moment, almost suffocating. Kara was quite sure if she so much as flexed a single muscle, she would be intruding on Cat’s space. She might even touch her somewhere less than appropriate, and how would they recover from that?

“I know you’re not asleep,” Cat said, her voice barely a murmur. “Relax, Kara. It’s just a sleepover. And if you've ever read a gossip column, you'll know I'm not that fussy about who shares my bed.”

“Easy for you to say.” Kara hadn’t meant to grumble, but it came out anyway. She turned over, facing Cat in the semi-darkness of the bedroom. “I’ll call my sister in the morning, see if she’s found a way for you to speak to Carter without it being traced.”

“I’d like that.”

“I thought you would.”

Cat watched Kara from across the pillows, easier to see now that Kara’s eyes had adjusted to the low light. “You’re too good to me, you know. Above and beyond what any other assistant would have done. Most would have bailed at the first round of death threats.”

“Well, the fact that I’m usually bulletproof helps.” Kara smiled, because they both knew that had little to do with it. She’d been protecting Cat for over two years in every way possible. “And hey, free back-to-nature vacation. It’s not all bad.”

A strand of hair fell across Kara’s face, making her wonder for the hundredth time whether to change it up and get bangs. Before she could move it, Cat’s hand reached across and stroked the loose strand out of Kara’s eyes, tucking it behind her ear. 

“Thank you,” Kara said. What else could she say?

Cat just smiled, those bright eyes finally showing signs of tiredness. “Goodnight. Again.”

“Night.”


	4. Chapter 4

Kara wished she’d been able to blink twice and fall asleep too, as Cat just had, but resigned herself to a long night of lying there and drinking in every detail. How often would she get another chance to see Cat so unguarded, so completely at rest? No sign of the CEO mode, the Queen of All Media façade. Just the woman behind it all. That was the one Kara wanted to do everything for. Being good at her job was just a bonus for Kara; being the one to make Cat smile was everything. 

Maybe that was the thought that let her finally relax enough, but instead of discreetly staring, Kara found herself taking long, slow blinks. Before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.

***

It wasn’t the hand on her hip that woke Kara, but it was the first thing she became aware of as she blinked herself awake. Weak grayish daylight, the sound of rain pounding on the roof, and the gentle pressure of a palm resting on her hip.

_Cat’s hand_.

Kara froze completely in her comfortable position. Lying on her side, her face was cradled by a huge, fluffy pillow, the secure and snug warmth of the blankets weighing her down. All of that faded away compared to the gentle grip of Cat’s fingers, mostly over the cotton of Kara’s pajamas. But one finger tip was grazing the bare skin exposed between pajama top and pants. That one square inch of space became the centre of Kara’s universe. 

With her back to Cat, there was no way of telling if she was awake. Cat chose that moment to answer Kara’s silent question with the very gentlest of snores. Kara smiled into her pillow at the sound. She couldn’t wait to tease Cat about that.

There were any number of reasons to get up, to start the day, and find out if Livewire and Silver Banshee had been contained yet. None of that seemed pressing in the face of lying peacefully beside Cat, and so Kara closed her eyes and let sleep wash over her once more.

***

When next she woke, Kara found herself squinting into a bright overhead light. For a moment her heartbeat tripled, her breath catching in her throat. Somewhere a mechanical humming was getting louder. Was she at the DEO? Had Livewire captured them?

“Morning,” Cat’s voice said as Kara blinked her vision back to normal. 

“Did you… wait, did you fix the generator?” 

Kara could finally see properly, and her eyes insisted on telling her they could see Cat standing there with a smug expression and a spanner in one hand. She was still partly dressed in pajamas, but with Kara’s NCU hoodie on over the top and untied hiking boots on her feet. 

“How do you think I got that first radio station up and running? Cat Grant doesn’t wait around for maintenance. Well, not before I could afford to hire anyone.”

“Wow.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“You take everything as a compliment, Cat.” Kara crawled out from under the covers. “But this is pretty impressive.”

“I’ve earned first shower rights,” Cat said, gesturing toward the bathroom. “So you can make the coffee happen. With the actual coffeemaker this time.”

Kara felt her face fall just a little at the realization there’d be no more naked-river-bathing. Oh well. Probably for the best. 

“Deal. I’ll call Alex and see what’s happening. Then maybe we can get some work done around here today, huh?”

Cat smirked, clearly pleased with herself. “Laptops are already charging in the living room.”

***

Alex had no good news to report on the capture front, but she did have a voice message from Carter that Kara gladly handed over the satellite phone for. It had its own solar charger, so it hadn’t been dependent on the great reconnection coup. 

When Cat gave the phone back to Kara she seemed fine at first, but before long she had stalked off down the stream towards where she’d taken her al fresco bath the day before. Kara wasn’t sure if she was supposed to follow, but by the time she reached the bank, Cat was standing there in what seemed to be a yoga pose.

Instead of quiet meditation, her next move was to hurl an almighty scream out across the water. The sound startled Kara so badly she almost toppled right into the water.

“Rao! Warn a person before doing that!”

“Try it,” Cat said, gesturing for Kara to come closer. “I’ve never met anyone more in need of scream therapy.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t… I mean how… why…” Kara fiddled with her glasses, kicking at the ground a little. “I get so self-conscious.”

“Exactly.” Cat waved a finger at Kara. “All that apologizing and accommodating and trying so hard to blend in, and to never be any trouble. All the crap you put up with from me, from Jimmy Olsen and his soulful pecs, from your IT stalker who can’t accept a place in the friendzone. Do I need to go on?”

Kara shrugged. She turned toward the still water and opened her mouth for a fairly loud shout. It did feel sort of okay.

“Not like that.” Cat was suddenly right there, one hand on Kara’s back and the other pressed against her abs. “Jesus Christ, is that without crunches? No, don’t tell me.” Kara blushed. Her long sleeve tee was pretty thin, and the muscles were kind of obvious under it. 

“Cat, I don’t need to--”

“Scream!”

“Cat!”

“Scream! Scream! Scream!” With every yell Cat pressed her hands together, playing Kara like an instrument until Kara clasped her hands over her ears and let the bubbling feeling inside her rip from her throat in the biggest, loudest noise of her life. She screamed incoherent, jagged non-syllables. Over and over. Short and long. Howls of pain that gave way to whimpers. Until the next one. And the next one.

For five straight minutes Kara stopped thinking. She didn’t reach for her powers or her notebook. She just let the noise happen, thinking of nothing beyond the dual press of Cat’s hands. Eventually Kara’s throat started to hurt and she had no more to push out of her.

“Better?” Cat asked, her voice so quiet once Kara took her hands away from the side of her head. A nod felt like the safest response. “Told you so.”

“I should go back and get a drink,” Kara said as soon as they broke contact. She turned and jogged back up the path without waiting to see if Cat would follow.

***

They worked in their usual companionable silence for the rest of the day. Without wifi their task list was limited, but as always there was plenty of writing and planning to do that benefited from the lack of interruption that emails and meetings always caused. Kara felt good about the updates she’d made to the office security plans, based on expert recommendations. She’d also organized Cat’s calendar for the rest of the year and logged all her expenses, ready to upload as soon as there was internet again. 

Cat for her part seemed to be writing some kind of speech but she didn’t confide its contents to Kara. Food was simple but plentiful, though Cat soon fell back into her work habit of expecting Kara to wait on her, hand and foot. Only when Kara sighed about the fourth round of coffee did Cat realize she should perhaps take a turn. 

By evening the lure of a dazzling sunset was too gorgeous to resist. They sat outside the cabin on camping chairs, each with a book and a full glass of middling red wine. Cat had grumbled on seeing the label, but Kara couldn’t really tell the difference. She sipped at hers quite happily, but Cat still finished hers first.

“I might turn in,” Cat said as the last of the day’s sunlight faded. “But you shouldn’t feel you have to wind down just because this old woman is enjoying the chance for real rest. I’m sure you’re bored senseless, Kara. I do appreciate what you’re sacrificing.”

“All I’m sacrificing right now is takeout pizza and a Real Housewives marathon,” Kara replied, gathering up their chairs as Cat took care of the glasses. “Honestly, I get tired a lot quicker with no powers. It’s nice. Like being human for a while.”

“Any thoughts on how to get those back?” Cat asked, putting the glasses in the sink. “Only at some point we will need to leave this place and I’m not really in the hiking-to-Boston demographic.”

“Logan isn’t our nearest airport, but yeah, I know what you mean. I’ll try some stuff tomorrow. Things that have worked before, I mean.”

Cat smiled, and it was definitely fond. That seemed to keep happening, and it was definitely not something expected from being trapped in a cabin with her difficult boss for about 24 hours so far. “Let me know how I can help.”

“Thank you. I will.”

Kara made her way over to the couch, rearranging the cushions for her to sleep on. The day had been much warmer, and there wasn’t the same obvious need for sharing the bed. The moment Cat passed her, she noticed what Kara was doing.

“No. To bed with you. Unless you want to stay through here and read or something.”

“But--”

“No arguments. Bed. I won’t have it said that I didn’t share, not when you’re telling this story back in civilization.”

Okay, so maybe Kara had been hoping Cat would insist. She certainly made it to bed first, changed and cleaned up in record time while Cat lingered over brushing her teeth, humming some old Motown song under her breath as she moved around the cabin. 

Leaning back on the pillows, Kara continued with the Edith Wharton book she’d been reading for most of the evening. It was one of the few she hadn’t gotten around to in college. She read the same two pages at least three times waiting for Cat to stop circling the bed and actually get in it. Once she settled next to Kara, concentration got even harder. 

“I wasn’t thinking,” Cat said, reading glasses perched on her nose. “When I told you to sleep in here. Supergirl or not, you’re still my employee. And you have every right to refuse.”

“What? Oh no, I don’t want to. Refuse, that is. I mean it’s nice that you’re sharing with me. Thank you.”

“Okay. I don’t need a treaty of bedsharing or anything, but so long as you know it’s not essential.”

“I do.” Kara turned the page of her book, forcing her attention back onto the words. “And you know, I’m not some damsel who can only bend to your will. Whatever I do, with you, well it’s a choice. I know I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.”

“Whatever you ‘do’ with me, hmm?”

They were very conspicuously not looking at one another, both staring dead ahead at the books propped up on their respective knees. Kara felt something shift in the air between them, something almost tangible. These conversations kept happening. These moments.

“That’s right. _Whatever,_ ” Kara replied, her voice soft and probably more yearning than she had any right to be. “Even if that were something that a boss and an employee wouldn’t usually do. Together.”

“Kara…” Cat’s whisper sounded more like a prayer, under her breath and giving way to a groan. “Don’t…”

“Don’t what?” Kara closed her book. 

“Don’t ask me to be a good enough person to resist temptation. It has never been one of my many, many skills.”

“Mine either.”

Kara waited. Cat closed her book. Placed it on top of Kara’s and then dropped them both on the floor. That was her cue, then. Without another moment of hesitation, Kara turned to face Cat and saw the same want from her own body radiating right back at her. Like her bigger namesakes, Cat was positively ready to pounce, and Kara had every intention of being caught.

“It has to be you,” Cat said, her words barely a murmur as she watched Kara’s mouth. “It has to be your decision.”

“Oh, I’ve decided,” Kara replied, almost lunging across the last few inches between them, her decision swallowed up by the pressure of Cat’s pouty lips pressing against her own. It was happening, really happening. Kara was kissing Cat Grant, and she had no idea how she was ever going to stop. 


	5. Chapter 5

At some point during their first kiss, Cat forgot entirely how to breathe. As functions went, it was one she’d always taken for granted. That was before the world tilted on its goddamn axis and meek, apologetic Kara Danvers had finally taken her shot.

And what a shot it was. 

Of course she kissed like the entire future of the planet depended on it; that was how Kara did _everything_. Cat reached instinctively for those broad shoulders, pulling Kara closer as the kisses continued, slipping her hand beneath the ridiculously-patterned pajamas. Warm, soft, everything that Cat had fantasized about in touching Kara, but nowhere near enough.

“Wow,” Kara sighed between kisses, eyes closed and cheeks flushed. “That was exactly as great as I hoped.”

“No need to stop practicing though,” Cat replied, because her patience for anything other than kissing Kara had been rendered non-existent. “After all, it’s not like there’s anywhere else we have to be right now.”

She hadn’t expected forceful from Kara, at least not intentionally, but with the strength differential actually in her favor for once, Cat still found herself easily rolled onto her back, pressed into the mattress.

“Bold,” she said. Kara’s only response was to pepper kisses along her jawline, hitting every sensitive inch with firm kisses that resonated all the way to Cat’s toes. Hadn’t Cat always imagined she’d take control, in idle fantasies? No, not when the suit had been involved, the cape wrapping around them to give privacy from the world. All day every day Cat bossed and controlled and ordered. To relinquish that in the face of Kara’s dogged determination felt like a gift, an unexpected one that she had no intention of refusing. 

And so she let Kara unbutton, and pull aside, and slip the needless silk from Cat’s body until she was naked beneath her. Kara’s own clothes followed suit with some careless tossing aside, until they were simply skin pressed against skin, half of one sheet tangled up in their legs. The cotton didn’t bother Cat one bit as Kara kissed the arched lines of her throat, along her collarbones with open-mouthed desire that left Cat feeling dizzy.

“Oh!” She gasped as a muscular arm wrapped around her waist and flipped their positions. Maybe even without powers, Kara still had a trick or two. It was effortless for Cat to straddle Kara’s hips, and as she rocked against her in the process of sitting up, it was the wettest Cat could remember being in quite some time. There’d be no need to pause for retrieving lube from her washbag, not unless Kara had anything quite dramatic in mind.

Cat was quickly learning not to rule anything out as Kara’s hips bucked beneath her, gentle hands trailing up over Cat’s ribs to cup her breasts, making them feel more of a handful than they really were. Discovering Kara’s fondness for art had been accidental, but it showed in the precision of her touches, not a stroke of her thumb or twist of her fingertips wasted as she teased Cat’s nipples to ever hardening peaks. She dropped her head back and moaned, unused to the relentlessness of the sensation. Too many partners skimmed over foreplay, including Cat when she worked out frustrations by herself, but Kara had the patience of a glacier, steady and unruffled. Every sound and reaction she coaxed from Cat’s body made those blue eyes shine a little brighter, that soft smile a little wider. It was almost cocky, and Cat found that she liked that very much indeed. 

“Damn you,” she said as Kara slipped one hand between them, applying that same deft pressure to Cat’s clit as surely as though she’d touched it a hundred times before. No fumbling or guesswork, just the press of wet fingertips at just the pace Cat needed. Of course they were in tune. Kara spent her time anticipating Cat’s needs, so why should these be any different?

“I’ve wanted this,” Kara replied, still smiling. “I’ve wanted this so much you have no idea.”

“I’m getting some idea.”

“All those comments you’d make about my clothes, about me being some kind of prude. If you could only have seen the things I was imagining doing to you, Cat. I didn’t know I was capable of thoughts like that until I met you.”

“I should have bent you over my desk two years ago,” Cat said, drawing a gasp from Kara as her eyes fluttered closed. “But there’s something to be said for letting the--oh!--tension build. You’re quite bossy when you finally snap, aren’t you?”

“Says the woman practically begging my fingers to be inside her.”

Oh. Kara talking dirty. That was a consideration Cat hadn’t ever allowed. She was screwed. In really all of the ways by that point, since Kara did as promised and slipped two fingers past Cat’s entrance, flexing inside her right away to promise more, and harder.

“Kara, please…”

“Oh, so you do know how to ask nicely. I’ll have to remember that.” Kara’s smirk said she was teasing but Cat felt the slightest pang of guilt all the same. She hadn’t exactly been the model of a female mentor to the best assistant she’d ever had. “Please what, Cat? What can I do for you, Ms Grant? All the times I asked you that, how many times was this the real answer?”

There was no way Cat would ever admit the number, or how early it had started. She’d thought herself a cliché, a mid-life crisis with a bad case of roving bisexuality. In all those distracted moments, she hadn’t dared to picture Kara with, yes, three fingers thrusting into her, crunching those defined abs to capture Cat’s nipple between her teeth. 

“Jesus, Kara!”

Kara thrust harder in response. Cat wanted to ride it out, to deny herself as long as humanly possible, but her body had other ideas. It had been too long since anyone knew her body this way, since she had trusted anyone to really let go. The relief of her orgasm almost matched the excitement of it, and she sobbed Kara’s name while clenching around those beautiful, forceful fingers. 

“Wow,” Kara said as Cat came down from her high. She freed her hand and pulled Cat down to her for a slow, sensuous kiss, both of them catching their breath. Kara’s fingers were damp as she caressed Cat’s cheek, brushing hair away from her face where it was sticking just slightly. Despite trying to keep some decorum, Cat all but collapsed on top of her, boneless in her satisfaction. Part of her acknowledged how wet she was, how her climax had soaked Kara, but neither of them seemed to be in the mood for complaining. 

“Wow,” Cat finally agreed, when full control of her vocabulary returned. “You’re going to pay for that, Kara Danvers.”

“Rao, I hope so,” Kara said, around a giggle as she shimmied her hips a little. Determined not to be outdone, Cat gathered herself and propped up her weight on her elbows, beginning the long, delicious path of kisses down Kara’s body.

“I don’t know whether to go down on you or call a sculptor,” Cat said, her admission a little teasing given the dilation of Kara’s pupils and the tremors of arousal running through her. “But since calling someone takes time, let’s stick to the first one, hmm?”

“If you insist,” Kara replied. She almost succeeded in sounding nonchalant about it, too. 

Cat was true to her word, delighting in exploring every line and crevice of Kara’s body with lips and tongue, lingering where she tasted herself on Kara’s skin before diving in for perhaps the most enthusiastic use of her tongue in Cat’s life. She fluttered and teased and stroked until Kara was incoherently babbling in at least three languages, only letting her crest over the edge when she was concerned that something might break. As Kara came against Cat’s tongue it proved effortless to keep her coming, over and over until Kara startled them both by blasting lasers straight at the ceiling. 

They scrambled apart, before bursting out in hysterical laughter, Cat falling on her side amongst the discarded blankets, soon scooped up into a slightly sweaty but welcome hug from Kara.

“Guess we switched my powers back on,” Kara said as she calmed down.

“First the generator, now you. I should have been an electrician,” Cat replied. 

“You’d look really cute in overalls.”

“I don’t look cute in anything. Hot? Well, yes. I’d bring some Flashdance energy to that look.”

“That was a welder.” Kara kissed Cat’s forehead as she pointed out the correction. 

“Whatever,” was Cat’s considered response. “If you keep holding me like this, I’m just going to fall asleep.”

Kara shifted, pulling a sheet over them. “A little rest before the next round wouldn’t be terrible, would it?”

Using Kara’s shoulder as a pillow, Cat shook her head. “You have a point. Listen, even if they find Leslie and Siobhan, there’s no need for us to rush back, is there? Not now you can fly again whenever you want?”

Testing the theory, Kara floated them up off the bed, making Cat squeal. “Guess not. You know, I do have a lot of vacation days stored up. My boss is a real bitch about letting me have time off.”

“Maybe she just doesn’t like it when you’re not following her around all day in short skirts or tight pants. Ever think of that?” Cat knew there was more truth in the observation than she cared to admit. 

“I could go sleep on the sofa, you know,” Kara said, but she was already yawning into the words.

“Not a chance. I finally got you in my bed, Kara. What on earth makes you think I’m going to let you back out of it any time soon?”

With that, Cat closed her eyes and waited for a response. She fell asleep to the sound of Kara’s gentle snore. 


End file.
